our conversation
MEET HOLLIS
My father Bob Hollis is synonymous with the sport of scuba diving, technical diving, and he always had a passion for exploring. That passion has been passed on to my siblings and I as we grew up in the business, learning from our father. Naturally when asked to start the Hollis brand together in 2007, I dropped everything and have been enjoying it ever since. Our goal was to create a new standard in technical product design, quality and support.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Nick Hollis
AT THE BARE DRY SUIT FACTORY
The brand BARE was established in 1972 in a small shop on the coast in British Colombia. Two keen and passionate divers, whose surnames were Cartwright and FitzGerald, eventually formed the company FitzWright, based in Langley, British Colombia. FitzWright was eventually purchased by Suunto in around 1994. In 1997, a European manufacturing facility was set up in Malta, called FitzWright Europe Malta, Ltd.and it’s purpose was to manufacture and sell wetsuits and drysuits directly to Suunto’s European BARE customers. The FitzWright Group of Companies (Canada and Malta) was finally purchased by Huish Outdoors in 2011.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Dennis Stivala
DIVING
A different state of consciousness
I started diving because my friends persuaded me to. One of my close friends told me about diving as a different state of consciousness. Breathing and meditation, how it is done underwater in another reality. That's why diving always seemed so magical to me. And last year, Anka Kazejak, my friend director, started training and she said: come to Deep Spot, why don't you take a dive.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Karolina Gorczyca
CRETE
Recreationally, technically and touristically
Crete is a big island. We are in Chania, there are high mountains, long beaches, both sandy and rocky. Very interesting topography and landscape, the same is underwater.
Underwater, there are plenty of caves, rock formations and remnants of World War II. This is an excellent holiday option. It's warm, sunny and there are lots of places of interest. There are no crowds, even during the holiday season, as the island is large.
Wojciech Pruski talks to Nikolas Giannoulakis
"MANTA" PROJECT
When Oceanário began to draw this dream of a programme for ecotourism, connecting divers to species conservation, and simultaneously ensuring financial sustainability for conservation projects, Manta Catalog Azores, a project that was already funded by Oceanário, naturally emerged as a key partner, as they study the aggregation of the devil ray around the Island of Santa Maria, striving to increase knowledge on the behaviour of this species and to identify necessary actions for its protection.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Ana F. Sobral (Manta Catalog Azores)
DRIVEN BY PASSION
When I went to Indonesia, I did not plan to stay there for more than a few weeks. Everything changed the moment I went underwater for the first time with the encouragement of my cousin Patcy, who worked as a divemaster. In no time, I fell in love with the light underwater! I was inspired by this whole new world where light provides new opportunities for photography.
Karolina Sztaba (Karola Takes Photos) talks to Laura Kazimierska
FOR OCEAN FROM US
About eco glasses
I always had this urge to try to do something cool somewhere. I was surfing the Internet... and I came up with the idea of making something cool out of this collected plastic. But in a special way.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Marek Kucharz
AT A TURTLE'S PACE
For centuries they have been carrying the burden of this globe on their shoulders only to become a militant icon of pop culture. They were my motivation to delve into the secrets of the underwater world. Our first meeting only confirmed what I have felt for a long time. I have had the feeling that I belong to this underwater land and I want to protect it, and turtles will accompany me on my exciting escapades. We are talking about sea turtles, of course!
Laura Kazimierska talks to Siân Williams
4BALTIC
Four for Baltic
4baltic was an idea that was in my head for a long time. From the very beginning of my diving adventure, I have been diving on wrecks. Over the years and hundreds of hours under water, you can see a drastic change in what's under the water. How much cod is there on wrecks (and how much of it was earlier), and why it is not there actually. The flounders are in a deplorable condition. Skinny, haggard, with some spots. You can see to the condition of the water itself: farmers fertilise their fields, and everything flows down into the Bay and into the sea with the rains.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Tomek Ramutkowski
DIVING TALKS
Portugal (mainland) and the Azores and Madeira archipelagos are perfect destinations for recreational and technical divers. My favourite dive site would be the Serra d’Aire region because I love to dive caves, and there we have Almonda and Alviela for cave diving during the summer and Olho de Mira and Pena for the winter diving. However, Portugal offers much more.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Arlindo Serrao
THROUGH THE LENS
I really love macro photography. Thanks to it we can see all the details of the tiny sea creatures. It is impossible to do it underwater even with a magnifying glass. Obviously it requires special equipment and a lot of patience, but the result is worth it. Like that, for example, I discovered that tiny 10mm-long pygmy seahorse has charming pattern on the lips, that Ring-tailed Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchusaureus), male protects and incubates eggs in the mouth and that Redhead Stylophora Goby (Paragobiodonechinocephalus) has green eyes.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Oksana Maksymova
THROUGH THE LENS
When I was 25 years old, I abandoned corporate life to follow my heart and become a dive professional. After several years working as an instructor in Indonesia, Philippines, and Saint Lucia, I started underwater photography and became so engrossed that I decided to switch from teaching divers, to full time underwater photography.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Henley Spiers
ABOUT BUSINESS, DIVING AND FLASHLIGHTS
To tell the truth, I only remember one question from Ania and Mariusz ... 'Are we signing up for an instructor course?' I remember that the idea initially did not appeal to me because I had other plans. Diving had been a passion we shared for many years. Probably for this reason we wanted to show it to others. None of us had to than, nor has to now, live from a diving business, which we are still learning, and probably because of this it was easier to say "yes". It's been over ten years since the first dive and a little over five years since passing the instructor exams, and we're still learning.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Krzysztof Gawroński
ON THE BOTTOM OF THE NORTH SEA
It was an international project in which the states located over the Baltic Sea took part. The main aim of the project was to determine the risk posed for the aquatic environment by chemical and conventional weapons sunk in the sea. The program has been financed by EU INTERREG for the Baltic Sea Region since 2014 and will finish in 2020.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Bartłomiej Grynda
STINKED CHALLENGE
It is a difficult and demanding profession, very often confused with recreational scuba diving, and has nothing to do with recreation. It requires a multi-week training at each level of qualifications that ends with a state examination before the Admissions Committee consisting of divers from the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation. Additionally, a professional diver needs to be in good physical health – which should be confirmed by a medical certificate of no contraindications to carrying out underwater work.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Grzegorz Gniwkiewicz
A SITUATION OF DIVING BUSINESS
Diving school are focused on training people, and of course, also going on diving trips with them, but the very classic example of the offer for the diver who completed the basic OWD course is another course, AOWD, while probably a lot better solution would be to persuade the diver first to go with us for the weekend and to dive a bit or maybe do the specialization in buoyancy. And another thing that you’ve said, is the community. When the diver gets involved in the community or the club, they can see they are not alone and have a company to dive with. Research also shows that the diver who buys own equipment does not abandon diving.
Wojciech Zgoła talks to Michał Kosut
ANDREA DORIA, MEMORIES
In 1956 there was a collision of two big ships, one of them was Andrea Doria, a beautiful liner and the most luxurious ship of that time. It was built according to the Italian school and made 101 cruises. On that day, the 25th of July 1956 Andrea Doria had a crash with the ship named Stockholm. How old were you then?
I was not born yet. My mother was travelling with my grandfather, she was 12 years old. That was her first trip to the United States, with her dad, who was a tailor, and they were going to the US to buy a special kind of cotton.
Irena Kosowska talks to Davide Bastiani